Like the PCCC, the DCCC recruits Democrats to run for Congress. Unlike the PCCC, they don't always choose progressive candidates. Having the DCCC chaired by a banker who Businessweek called "Wall Street's Favorite Democrat" would have been disastrous for progressives and hurt Democrats' chances of winning back the majority in 2016.

That's why PCCC members took immediate action to head off Jim Himes' appointment -- calling Nancy Pelosi's office, sending her tweets and, in the process, making headlines in Time Magazine, The Hill, Politico, The Associated Press, and more.

PCCC members calls and tweets made a difference!

Here's the statement PCCC co-founder Adam Green made when Pelosi announced that Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico will chair the DCCC:

We thank Leader Pelosi for not selecting Jim Himes to lead the DCCC -- thereby rejecting the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party. In order to win key House races, Democrats must run on big, bold, populist ideas like those championed by Elizabeth Warren. This means recruiting economic populist candidates -- especially in red and purple states -- and working with them to integrate a populist vision into their campaign messaging. The PCCC will be doing this, and we hope to partner with Rep. Ben Ray Luján and others to achieve success in 2016.

To see the difference this will make, read the statement Rep. Luján made when the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill was signed into ...

On the eve of President Obama using a nationwide TV address Tuesday to explain why the U.S. should bomb Syria, there will be several peace vigils across the Bay Area Monday night — beginning with one in front of one of the biggest hawks on Syria, Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

Sponsored by a coalition of liberal activist groups — including MoveOn, CREDO, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and the Win Without War Coalition — the major action will start Monday at 6 p.m. in front of Pelosi’s office at the Federal Building.

During an appearance on Fox News, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was asked about raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67. She strongly rebuked the idea, saying that beneficiaries aren't going to "evaporate from the face of the earth for two years":

PELOSI: Those people are not going to evaporate from the face of the earth for two years, they're going to have medical needs and they're going to be attended to. And the earlier the intervention for it, the less the cost will be and the better the quality of life. I do think we should subject every federal dollar that is spent to the harshest scrutiny. I do think the challenge in Medicare is not Medicare it's health care costs in general. [...] There is money to be saved there, I don't think it has to come out of benefits or beneficiaries, and I don't think you have to raise the age.

CPC Co-chair Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) made clear he will oppose any cuts to Social Security benefits and vote against a deal that includes them.

Earlier today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she would support President Obama's proposed Social Security benefit cuts -- even arguing that using the "chained CPI" would not be a benefit cut after previously telling President Obama "that House Democrats will not vote for any trims to future benefits in Medicare or Social Security, even a tweak to the cost-of-living index," according to her hometown paper.

A defiant Congressional Progressive Caucus — which has 75 Members in the House — pushed back, releasing a statement declaring:

Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) are standing up against a proposal to cut Social Security benefits by changing the way we calculate inflation...Tying Social Security to chained CPI is a benefit cut and members of the CPC will not vote for a deal that cuts the benefits that millions of Americans rely on.

This Progressive Caucus statement follows similarly bold statements from individual Caucus members in the preceding 36 hours. Some are below (emphasis added):

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), CPC co-chair:

"Chained CPI makes life harder for millions of retirees, weakens Social Security and doesn’t reduce the deficit by a penny. It’s a Beltway fig leaf that I will never support, and I call on my colleagues to make their feelings known as soon as possible before this becomes yet another piece of conventional wisdom that makes things worse."

Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI):

"I will vote against any agreement that imposes cuts to already modest Social Security benefits and does not ask millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share."

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA):

"Reducing cost of living adjustments is a Social Security benefit cut. Any deal that cuts Social ...

Rep. Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday that she will stay on as House Democratic leader in the next Congress... Liberal groups, which have been wary that Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.), the Democratic whip who was expected to replace Pelosi had she stepped down, would be too quick to cut entitlement programs in order to solidify a bipartisan deficit deal, were quick to cheer her decision. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Nancy Pelosi," Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Wednesday in an email. "The mandate of the election was to tax the rich and protect programs like Medicare and Social Security from benefit cuts. Steny Hoyer would likely not have respected that mandate, but given her track record, we have high hopes for Nancy Pelosi."

A prominent liberal group launched a last-minute campaign urging Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) to stay on as the top House Democrat next year... The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a Washington-based liberal advocacy group, sent out a notice at 11 p.m. Tuesday night warning that, if Pelosi steps down, "a conservative Democrat will take over." Although the PCCC email doesn't name names, the reference likely is to Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.), the Democratic whip who's expected to replace Pelosi if she steps down. As highlighted by the PCCC, many liberals fear Hoyer will be too quick to cut programs like Medicare and Social Security for the sake of reaching a deficit deal with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the Republicans.

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